Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder review

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to stick your phone holder to your car’s dashboard. In many ways, it’s a great idea — it keeps a vent free and you can put it almost anywhere. But that only works if you have a flat surface to hand. And that surface has to be smooth. As modern cars become ever-more-curvy, flat and smooth surfaces are increasingly hard to come by. But can the Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder’s super-strong magnets make up for its problematic installation?

Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder price and availability

The Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder for Dashboard sells for around $17 when bought direct from Syncwire, but you can also pick it up from Amazon if that’s more convenient. You’ll also likely save a couple of dollars there, too — at the time of writing it was available for just $13.

Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder: Design and features

The Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder for Dashboard is as simple as any phone holder I’ve used and consists of one piece. At one end there’s the 3M sticker that will be used to mount the holder to your car’s dashboard and at the other is a magnetic surface. That’s where you’ll put your iPhone.

The magnetic head can be moved around in all directions, hopefully giving you the maneuverability needed to keep your phone out of sunlight and in-view no matter where you have to stick it.

Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder: Setup

Setting the Syncwire holder up is a case of finding a flat, smooth surface and sticking the mount to it. That sounds simple, but it might not be depending on your car. I couldn’t stick the holder to anything except the inside of a cubby lid, hence the somewhat unusual photos. I tried other parts of my car with limited-to-no success. And even attached to the cubby lid, things weren’t ideal.

The Syncwide holder comes with metal plates that can be stuck to the back of your phone — one round, one rectangular. Pick one and stick it to the back of your phone and you’re all set. One note of caution, however. Those with MagSafe iPhones will need to put their metal plate lower than they might expect thanks to the wonder of magnetic fields.

Syncwire Universal Car Phone Holder: Performance

There are two parts to how well the Syncwire holder works because, really, one part of it works well and the other doesn’t. You’ve probably already guessed which is which.

Sticking the holder to my car was almost impossible, and while your car might fare better, the small size of the sticker isn’t going to make for a strong connection anyway. Syncwire is using great stickers from 3M, but they’re so small they just can’t get a grip. Attaching something big like an iPhone 12 Pro Max or Galaxy Note is a no-go. I wouldn’t even try.